Chapter 346 - Free Labor (1/2)
She first soaked the dried razor clams in some water and then rinsed them with some boiling water. After all of the grit and sand was washed out, they were finely minced. Then she instructed one of the imperial chefs take some fresh shrimp, peel and clean them before cutting them into small pieces to use.
After the rice was washed, it was put into a large deep pot to simmer into congee. The minced dried razor clams, shrimp, and some ham was also put into the pot to stew slowly. Since the little divine stone had healed the little prince in the afternoon, she knew that his stomach would be able to digest more, so she was able to put more delicious ingredients in the food. After the congee finished cooking, she sprinkled some crushed roasted peanuts on top to add an additional layer of flavor. A little bit of sesame oil was also drizzled on for the same purpose.
Throughout the entire process, Yu Xiaocao didn’t try to hide any of the steps from the imperial chefs. When they had questions, she even patiently explained her reasoning. Thus, the impression the imperial chefs had of this little girl, who knew how to make many odd things, had improved a lot. Other than the noble masters in the palace, these old imperial chefs didn’t really put anyone else in their eyes. However, they now treated Yu Xiaocao with a lot more respect and reverence.
That night, the three great personages of the palace ate to their delight. It was said that the empress was very fond of the braised pig trotters, while the emperor liked braised pork knuckle and also enjoyed braised pig head meat. However, the emperor emeritus hogged most of the braised pig head meat and only gave the emperor a miserly tiny portion. The emperor emeritus ate more than half a large plate of braised pig head meat by himself and almost finished all of the sliced pig ears seasoned with chili oil. He couldn’t bear to give the leftovers to the eunuchs and palace maids, so he had the servants carefully pack the food up and had it stored in an ice cellar. He stated that he planned on eating the rest at his next meal.
The young prince was also very pleased. He ate two small bowls of seafood congee and still wasn’t satisfied, so he also ate a goblet of razor clams stewed with egg. He was so stuffed afterwards that he had to stroll around his rooms several times with a palace maid to help with digestion. Only then was he allowed to go to bed. All of the imperial physicians were amazed at the speed of the little prince’s recovery. Usually, a patient would need at least a few days to recover from even the mildest bout of dysentery. However, only two days had passed yet the prince had made almost a full recovery and no longer needed to take medication. Was it because the Yu Family’s little girl’s recipe for medication was really that good? Even Imperial Physician Wang, who had some resentments towards Yu Xiaocao, had to admire the efficacy of the girl’s medicine recipe.
During the time that Yu Xiaocao was in the palace, she had to spend some time almost every day in the imperial kitchens to make two dishes that the emperor emeritus personally ordered. The dishes she made for him included: sweet and sour crispy pork, dry-fried pork strips, pickled vegetables with fatty meat and blood sausage. The emperor emeritus ate until he was completely satisfied. He praised the food, stating that these dishes were more delicious than all of the northeastern cuisine dishes he had during his entire life. In fact, the emperor emeritus had previously traveled all throughout the country in an effort to find the taste of his hometown. Unfortunately, he was never able to satisfy his cravings before.
There was a reason why Yu Xiaocao knew how to cook northeastern cuisine dishes. In her past life, her mother was from the northeast. Before her mother passed away, the family’s financial circumstances were considered decent, so her mother often made some authentic northeastern dishes to eat. She had helped her mother cook in the kitchen and learned the ways to make this type of cuisine. Many years had passed then and she was now finally able to recreate the foods from her memories. These dishes all held the flavors of the food her mother used to make, such a good memory…
She taught every single northeastern cuisine dish she knew to the imperial chefs. The master opened the door, but cultivation progress depended on the individual person. It was up to the chefs to rely on their own talents to see if they were able to make these dishes up to par with the emperor emeritus’s tastes.
The young prince had his common purslane rock candy as treatment. In addition, Yu Xiaocao created menus of food for him, so gradually his body recovered. In the imperial kitchen, Yu Xiaocao came up with some new snacks, such as animal crackers, cakes filled with jam, sheep’s milk pudding, and egg tarts. The food she made changed almost every day and never repeated itself.
Once the young prince was able to get out of bed, he followed Yu Xiaocao like a little tail every day. When he saw her, he was even more happy to see her than when he saw his father or mother. The empress felt some pangs of jealousy while the emperor laughingly scolded him for being a foodie and an ungrateful brat...
After her sixth day in the palace, the imperial physicians announced that the young prince’s illness had completely healed. Thus, Yu Xiaocao also took her leave and left with a bunch of valuable presents given to her by the emperor and empress. The young imperial prince reluctantly said farewell to her at the steps of Jingyang Palace and waved his little hands, looking forward to her next visit.
Prior to entering the Imperial Palace, Yu Xiaocao had been preoccupied with the conundrum on what to do with the Yu Family’s residence in the prefectural city. It had a very good location, so leaving it empty was such a waste. Now, she finally came to a decision. She decided to open a braised food shop in the prefectural city. It would be a regular shop and would have a place to also sell roasted chicken and duck as well.
However, the thing giving her the most trouble at the moment was where to get the raw ingredients. The locust plague had just happened. Although the prefectural city’s area wasn’t particularly hard-hit by the disaster, there were still significant losses. Almost all of the farmlands had sharp decreases in their crop outputs. Without grain on hand, the families that raised pigs and chickens had all slaughtered their animals prior to the start of winter.
Although the weather had been good at the start of spring and the grass had started growing, how could families that raised poultry rely only on grass to feed their livestock? Spring was a time when people still relied on their stores of food, and many commoners were having trouble filling their stomachs let alone have any extra grain to raise chickens. Thus, she had a problem. If she wanted to open her braised food shop, she needed to start raising chickens and pigs now. However, her family had over a hundred mu of fields to tend and their vegetable stand to manage. If they started to raise a lot of chickens and pigs, she was afraid there wouldn’t be enough people at home to do the work…
After thinking things through, she finally came to a decision. She was going to write a letter to her father, who had gone back home after escorting her to the capital, to tell him to buy some land near the foot of the mountain from the village chief so they could construct a piggery. Enclosed with the letter was also a blueprint she drew for the piggery.
Spring plowing had just ended so her three maternal uncles weren’t very busy. Thus, she planned on having them go to the villages that weren’t as hard hit by the disaster to buy and catch as many piglets as they could. Afterwards, they could spread the piglets among families they were close to raise. The Yu Family would provide the food to raise these pigs. Once construction on the piggery was finished, they didn’t need to worry about getting more piglets in the future.